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1893 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



OF THE 



HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP, 



AT THE 



ANNUAL MEETING OF THE PEABODY TRUSTEES 
OF SOUTHERN EDUCATION, IN NEW YORK, 



6 October, 1893. 



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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



OF THE 



HON. ROBERT C. WINTHROP, 

At the Annual Meeting of the Peabody Trustees of 
Southern Education, in New York, 6 October. 1893. 



Gentlemen of the Peabody Board of Trustees : 

Glad as I am to be with you once more, I feel almost as 
if I owed an apology for coming, and for presuming, with 
so many infirmities, to take my seat at the head of this 
table, and to preside again over your deliberations. Noth- 
ing, indeed, would have tempted me to make the effort, 
had I not been warned, from various quarters, of the dan- 
ger of there not being a quorum present for the important 
business which awaits us. 

We meet under impressive circumstances, whether we 
look at what has occurred, and is occurring, in the world 
at large or in our own beloved country. No year of the 
more than a quarter of a century since this Trust was 
created has witnessed events more momentous than the 
year which has elapsed since our last meeting. The vio- 
lent struggle for what is called " Home Rule " in old 
England ; the great contention about silver and gold in 
our own land; the Panama scandal in France; the terrible 
naval catastrophe off Tripoli in the Mediterranean ; the not 
less terrible catastrophe at Ford's Theatre in Washington ; 
the protracted and happily successful arbitration of the 
Behring Straits Seal Fisheries ; the extra session of Con- 
gress to provide relief for the financial and social troubles 
which have pervaded our country; and above all the 



wonderful World's Fair at Chicago, exhibiting the mar- 
vellous advance of the United states in art, science, and 
industry of all sorts, and especially in architecture ; — 
these and many other things, — crimes, casualties, ■ and 
catastrophes, — have concurred to render this Columbian 
Year in the highest degree exceptional and memorable, — 
almost an Annus Mirabilis, such as was sung of by Dryden 
more than two hundred years ago, — and to call off the 
public mind from its ordinary objects of attention. 

But we need not look beyond our own little circle for oc- 
currences which cannot fail to have impressed us deeply. 
Since you last met and parted, on the 12th of October, 
1892, — the opening day of the Columbian Year, — no less 
than four of our most esteemed and valued members have 
been taken from us by death. No one of them had failed 
to manifest a deep and active interest in our work. Only 
one of them was of exceptionally advanced age like myself. 
From each of the other three alike we might confidently 
have counted on continued and valuable services to the 
very close of our Trust. 

The Honorable Randall L. Gibson, of Louisiana, was 
called first. He died at the Hot Springs in Arkansas on 
the 15th of December last, — only two months after he 
had attended our meeting and had taken a prominent part 
in its proceedings. He was elected in October, 1888, as 
the successor of the late Judge Thomas C. Manning, and 
had thus been a member of our Board for four years. A 
graduate of Yale University and one of its recent anni- 
versary orators, a Representative in Congress and after- 
wards a Senator of the United States until his death, an 
accomplished and genial gentleman, he had every claim to 
the regard and affection of those associated with him in 
public or in private life. He was particularly instrumental 
in the original institution and organization of the Tulane 
University in New Orleans. I recall an interesting corres- 
pondence which I had with him when we happened to be 



together in Paris, in 1882, and when he had been called by 
Mr. Tulane into his confidential counsels in regard to his 
then contemplated endowment. That endowment was un- 
doubtedly one of the many rich results of Mr. Peabody's 
magnetic example, and Mr. Gibson called upon me for 
whatever information and advice I could give him from 
my experience in this Trust. I need not say that I gave 
them to him with all my heart ; and that was the begin- 
ning of a friendship and an intimacy which I highly 
valued. I will not attempt to dwell longer on his character 
or services, as there are others of our Board who will 
desire to pay some tribute to his memory. 

Hardly more than a month had elapsed after the death of 
Senator Gibson, when we were shocked by the announce- 
ment that Ex-President Hayes was no more. He died at 
his home in Fremont, Ohio, on the 17th of January last. 
Elected in October, 1877, to the vacancy created by the 
death of the Hon. Samuel Watson, of Tennessee, General 
Hayes had been associated with us for more than fifteen 
years, and had notably distinguished himself by his devotion 
to our work. That work, indeed, could hardly have sus- 
tained a greater loss. In common with the Slater Trustees, 
of whom he was the President, we had relied confidently 
on his services in the great cause of national education at 
least to the end of our own Trust. His general career and 
character have been abundantly and admirably delineated 
in the tributes which have been paid him by others. 
Nothing, certainly, could have been juster or happier than 
those of President Gilman of Johns Hopkins University, 
and of Dr. Curry of our own Board, both of whom were 
associated with him in the Slater Trust. " He was a man," 
said President Gilman, " of lofty ideals, of unfailing patriot- 
ism, and of unselfish devotion to the good of his fellow- 
men. To his lasting honor be it remembered that after 
retiring from the highest station in the land he devoted his 
strength and time, without thought of reward, to philan- 



4 

thropy and education." Dr. Curry, on the same occasion, 
most felicitously alluded to Ex-President Hayes as having 
" solved the problem," so often propounded by the press, 
of " what should be done with our Ex-Presidents " so as 
not " to lose to the country their gathered experience and 
wisdom." " He consecrated his sound judgment," said 
Dr. Curry, " his wide intelligence, his tenderness, his gene- 
rosity, — all the powers of body, mind, and heart, — to the 
illiterate and the unfortunate, and literally went about, over 
the whole land, doing good. Identifying himself with 
national organizations of charities, he was an effective 
worker in behalf of Prison Reform and the bettering of the 
condition of the Indians. In all matters of education he 
was deeply interested. The education of the negro ap- 
pealed strongly to his better nature and to his best activi- 
ties." I eagerly adopt these tributes and make them a 
part of our own Report, as they are of the Slater Report, 
adding only an expression of the warm* regard and affec- 
tion with which General Hayes in these latter years had 
inspired me personally, and which I had the best reason 
for thinking were not unreciprocated. 

But still other bereavements were in reserve for our 
little circle. On the 30th of June last we received the sad 
tidings that Mr. Anthony J. Drexel had died at Carlsbad 
in Germany, where he had gone for his health. Born in 
Philadelphia in 1826, and educated in her schools, he de- 
lighted to identify himself with his birthplace, and to do 
all in his power to promote her prosperity and welfare. 
At an early age he entered the banking house of his father 
in that city ; and that was the scene of his labors, and I 
might almost say the object of his love, to the end of his 
life. Under the skilful and devoted management of his as- 
sociates and himself, that banking house has long been one 
of the most important financial institutions of the world, 
and is as well known at this day in Paris and London as in 
Philadelphia and New York. He had co-operated with 



his friend Mr. Pierpont Morgan, and with Mr. Morgan's 
excellent father before him, in giving it a character and a 
success which left it with hardly a rival at his death. Mean- 
time the wealth which he had accumulated personally was 
used by him with a liberality and a munificence which has 
commanded the admiration and gratitude of all around 
him. I need but name " The Institute of Art, Science, 
and Industry" which he founded and recently finished and 
furnished in his native city at a cost of nearly two millions 
of dollars. This will be the principal monument of his 
beneficence; but he was a philanthropist of the widest 
range, in heart and act, as well as a man of the most estim- 
able and attractive personal character. The recital of his 
lesser endowments and daily charities, even if one half of 
them were known to anybody but himself, would far exceed 
the limits of a tribute like this. To our own Board, to 
which he was elected in 1881, twelve years ago, in place 
of Mr. Peabody's friend the late George W. Riggs, he had 
been specially useful in connection with our devoted Trea- 
surer, and we had relied on him to aid in the care of our 
funds as long as we should hold them. 

And now a fourth member of our Board has been taken 
from us while our Secretary was preparing his notifications 
for this meeting. The Honorable Hamilton Fish died at 
his summer residence, near West Point, on the 7th of 
September last, just a month ago. It was no untimely 
death, like the others of which I have spoken. Nothing 
was wanting of years, of service, or of honors, to make a 
longer term desirable to him or to the country. He had 
entered his eighty-sixth year. He had held offices of the 
greatest distinction and responsibility in State and Nation. 
He had been Governor of New York, Representative and 
Senator in Congress, and Secretary of State of the United 
States. More than any other man he had given character 
to the administration of General Grant during its whole 
term of eight years. No one can exaggerate the influences 



for good over that administration and over the social con- 
dition of Washington which were exercised by Secretary 
Fish and his admirable wife. He inherited a full measure 
of patriotic spirit, as well as of personal integrity, from 
his honored father, of whom I said in my Centennial 
Oration at Yorktown, in 1881, after speaking of Alexander 
Hamilton : " Nor must his friend and fellow officer of 
the light infantry battalion — Major Nicholas Fish — fail 
to be mentioned, who shared with him the perils of the 
storming party, who lived a pure, patriotic, and useful 
life, and who gave the name of Hamilton to a son, whose 
recent discharge of the duties of Secretary of State has 
added fresh distinction to the name." From that patri- 
otic father, too, he inherited a membership of the cele- 
brated Society of the Cincinnati, of which for many years, 
and until his death, he was proud to be recognized as 
the President-General, wearing the same diamond badge 
which Washington wore as its first President-General. He 
was one of our original Board, appointed a Trustee, and 
named as our first Vice-President, with Bishop Mcllvaine 
as the. second, by Mr; Peabody himself in 1867. Only two 
of that original Board are left, — Mr. Evarts and myself, — 
who have been witnesses to his fidelity as Chairman of our 
Committee of Finance from our first organization until the 
infirmities of old age compelled him to withdraw from any 
further active service. Those infirmities were serious, and 
likely at any time within ten years past to culminate, as 
they have done at last, in sudden death. He repeatedly 
tendered a resignation of his relations to this Board, but 
the Board refused to accept it. I have here a letter from 
him, less than a year old, in reply to one which I had 
written to him on the subject of his proposed withdrawal, 
which gives an account of his health, and which is in- 
teresting in other respects. It is as follows, with an 
omission of only three or four lines which were indicated 
as personal and private : — 



Glenceyffe, Garrison's P. O., 
Putnam County, N. Y., November 2, 1S92. 

My dear Mr. Winthrop, — It is nearly a fortnight since I re- 
ceived your very kind letter, and there has been an almost continued 
struggle between the desire to acknowledge it and the energy and 
capacity to do so. Let me thank you for your very kind reference 
to me in your Annual Address ; and I appreciate the tenderness 
and consideration of the Resolution adopted by the Trustees on 
the 'motion of Senator Gibson. But I feel that my age and my 
infirmities preclude the possibility of any further service on my 
part, and that you are entitled to a more efficient lieutenant. 

Of the sixteen Trustees named by Mr. Peabody in 1867, all 
were considerably past the middle age of life. Grant, possibly, 
was the youngest ; and he was forty-five years old. All had led 
busy lives of active employment, and of many responsibilities in 
their respective courses. I am not familiar with the statistics of 
Annuities, or of the duration of lives ; but it strikes me as remark- 
able, that, at the expiration of twenty-five years, three of those 
sixteen remain. Long may you continue at their head ! I am 
far from well. My principal ailment, which I am told is incur- 
able, has not, it is true, — God be thanked ! — made much prog- 
ress during the past season ; but it remains, liable to advance, and 
is very distressing. I am not able to take much exercise, — an 
occasional short drive, and, very seldom, a very short walk. 
I have not been five miles distant from where I am now sitting 
since I came here in May last, and did not attend the General 
Convention, — which, at last, has concluded its discussions on the 
Prayer Book, whereat we all must be thankful. 
I am, my dear Mr. Winthrop, 

Very sincerely your friend, 



Hamilton Fish. 



The Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, LL.D., 
Brookline, Mass. 



You will all desire, Gentlemen, to unite in a tribute to 
these four beloved associates whom we have lost, and I will 
suggest the appointment of Mr. Evarts, Bishop Whipple, 



Mr. Courtenay, and Mr. Henry, to prepare a formal minute 
for our Records. Meanwhile I may well congratulate you, 
in conclusion, that whatever may have happened, of pros- 
perous or of adverse fortune, in the world at large or in the 
little circle of our own Board, this Columbian Year, which 
is within a few days of its close, has been a year of signal 
success for our work and for the. great cause in which we 
are engaged. It has eminently fulfilled the promise which 
was made for it on its first day, when on almost all the 
countless schoolhouses in the land the Stars and Stripes 
were raised, displayed, and saluted by the teachers and 
scholars. I witnessed the delight of the children in my 
own neighborhood. Popular education is now everywhere 
more and more recognized as a national concern, and no 
subject is more deeply at the heart of the American peo- 
ple. Normal Schools, and the Institutes which take their 
place in the summer season, have been largely multiplied 
in the Southern States ; and you will learn from Dr. Curry's 
Report that their work has been " unusually vigorous." 
There was no such thing known there when our Trust was 
founded. Indeed, it might almost be said that when Mr. 
Peabody committed his millions to our disposal, there was 
not within those States a single scholar in anything which 
could be called a Free Common School. There are two 
millions and a half now. Of our great Normal College 
at Nashville, the accomplished President, Dr. Payne, very 
recently writes me: "The last year was the best in its 
history, and the future seems very assuring." Of the 
Winthrop Normal College for young ladies, at Columbia, 
South Carolina, President Johnson writes me: "We closed 
a most successful year on the 15th of June. The enrol- 
ment for the session was the largest in the history of 
the college." But I leave these and all other details of 
what has been accomplished to the Annual Report of our 
faithful and untiring General Agent, to whom we owe 
so much of it. I must not omit, however, the welcome 



assurance which I have received from our Treasurer, 
that the income from our Fund, notwithstanding all the 
troubles of the times, will have been undiminished. 

It has recently been suggested, in a leading religious 
paper, that the opening of the schools for another year is 
an event well worthy to be celebrated in some formal 
manner. " A day might be set apart," it says, " about the 
middle of September, to be observed with public meetings 
in every city, town, and village throughout the land, for 
the purpose of arousing and informing the people upon 
the subject of education, and its overwhelming importance 
to the preservation of republican institutions." If such a 
day should ever be - appointed, it should be the 17th of 
September, the day of the adoption of the Constitution of 
the United States, and on which it was signed by Wash- 
ington and the members of the Convention of which he 
was President. But it is enough for us, Gentlemen, to 
thank God, as we well may, for all that has been accomp- 
lished, and to go on with confidence and courage to the 
completion of our Trust, or of our own individual con- 
nection with it, remembering, as we all do, with profound 
satisfaction, that we are engaged in promoting nothing 
less than the great cause of our whole country, — the 
cause of that National Education which is not merely 
the corner-stone, but the whole foundation and only sure 
support, of Republican Institutions. 



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